


Family Affairs (How To Break A Legacy Apart)

by LadyMorgaine76



Series: Breathe My Love... [7]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms
Genre: Dragons, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Family Secrets, Fix-It of Sorts, Flying, M/M, Post-Book 2: Wayward Son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22458220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMorgaine76/pseuds/LadyMorgaine76
Summary: More dragons.Secrets that still can't be revealed.An age old connection between the Pitches and the Salisburys.Baz is tired of being bound to archaic legacies and wants to step forward into a new, brighter future.Fiona is forced to re-evaluate herself and her actions on the past.Enter Ruth Salisbury, the keeper of secrets!
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: Breathe My Love... [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542856
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Family Affairs (How To Break A Legacy Apart)

**Author's Note:**

> So...  
> I've been so busy building up Simon and Baz's family trees, because I just obsess about the fine details, I guess...  
> It's been a pain coming up with names, birthdates and whatnot...  
> But, hey! On the bright side, I managed to build the trees up to the Victorian Era and I'm not finished yet!  
> Also, I just came up with an awesome Victorian semi-tragic love story that I might develop later...  
> You never know!  
> I hope you all love this and understand what I'm trying to build up here.  
> Leave comments. Press that kudos button. Brighten up my day!

**Simon**

It's fine…

No, it really is…

It's just…

This really is _it_! No more planning and training and…

It's fine. I can do this. _We_ can do this!

It's just pretty much every single mage in the UK, coming together to defend a school!

Well, more than a school… Watford is symbolic, isn't it? It's where we're supposed to learn who we are as mages. (in my case, whomever the hell I was supposed to be, but whatever.) It's the Landmark of our identity.

Watford is magic!

That's why the dark creatures gathered to destroy it.

Not because we'll all disappear and cease to be mages if Watford falls. But it is a powerful symbol. And letting it fall would create a rift within the whole World of Mages!

Even being devoid of magic, I'm aware I need the World of Mages to stand!

Where do I, a boy who gave up all of his magic, but was left with a pair of red leather dragon wings and tail, fit in the Normal world alone?

I don't…

Whether or not I feel like they've mostly abandoned me to my own devices when I was (am, still.) struggling with all the shitty things that happened to me and trying to get my head in order, (mainly to stop sabotaging myself! That would be lovely…) I still belong here!

This is my place.

And I'll fight to keep it safe!

Am I nervous? Bloody hell I am! I've got the sword of Mages back on my hands, but I can't summon it at will and send it back to whatever interdimensional pocket it's been floating around in, now can I? So, that's new to me…

I've got my boyfriend's entire family on one side and the Salisburys and the dragons on the other, and it's all damn well enerving, to say the least!

I don't know what Baz's family is thinking as they look at me, the boy who they saw as an opponent… (I still don't understand _why_ they were so keen on fighting me, hating me like that.) (If I was supposed to save the whole World of Mages, shouldn't they have, you know, supported me in some way?)

I know even less what the Salisbury clan sees in me! This random boy who suddenly bonded with one of the dragons loyal to them…

I don't feel any antagonism from their part. Quite the contrary! Maybe they're just curious, but cautious!

Maybe they just trust Snowdrop's judgement. After all, she is a mythical creature filled with the most ancient and powerfully instinctive magic.

Dragons _were_ the very first creatures on earth to feel and use magic!

The more I learn from Snowdrop, the more I understand the absolute awe and passion Baz feels for these magnificent creatures…

Speaking of Baz, he's yet to arrive at the Great Lawn to meet the rest of us. I hope his conversation with his father is going well.

His aunt Fiona feels awkwardly jittery today, always looking towards the place where they disappeared to have some privacy. Something happened between her and Malcolm Grimm… I caught a glimpse of both of them talking before Baz met up with them. I've only ever rarely seen those two interact but, as much as I can appreciate Fiona Pitch, her resilience and devotion to Baz, I find myself not liking the way she treats Mr Grimm… it's like she fancies herself to be superior to him and his family because they're farmers! 

That's a load of horse shit, isn't it? It's hypocritical at best!

But the worst was watching Baz's father kind of... giving in, I guess?

But this morning? Like the Americans say, he snapped!

I couldn't catch what they were discussing, but he was furious! And Fiona Pitch? She just froze, and I swear to Merlin she went pale!

_"It's a day of changes, child…"_

It's been like this since day one. Snowdrop and I are constantly connected. I'm learning how to control this bond, to keep my individuality and some sense of privacy. (Which is appreciated when I'm properly snogging my boyfriend… I'd rather not have a smug dragon inside my head in those moments.)

_"Sounds ominous…"_

_"I could tell you all changes would be painless, but what's the point in lying."_

_"So, we're bound to lose?"_

_"I have not said that… I gather the battle runs in our favour, but… it's what will come afterwards that worries us."_

_"Us?"_

_"My family."_

_"The other dragons."_

_"Yes."_

Each Salisbury (By blood only. Spouses aren't included in it, it seems.) is bonded to a dragon. And sometimes, that bond becomes hereditary! 

Apparently, like the Salisburys, all of their bonded dragons are related. A family of dragons!

Arthur Salisbury will be riding into battle with Snowdrop's mum, a beautiful sea green dragon with white talons on her wings. Snowdrop told me her name is Mara and she was born (hatched would be the correct term…) in the 1800s!

Snowdrop's father is the leader of their family and he's, for now, unbound to anyone since the passing of his mage (A cousin of Lord Salisbury, I think…).

He's… well…

Distant. Intense. Majestic even!

Dark blue, amber coloured talons… with the most simplistic name you could ever give a blue dragon… which is... Blue!

Whatever.

_"Hey, Snowdrop?"_

_"Yes, child?"_

_"Could you stop calling me that?"_

_"In human years, you're still considered a child to the rest of the adults."_

_"In dragon years, you're a child yourself!"_

_"You had a question…"_

_"Yes, thank you. My question is, why the Salisburys?"_

_"Because they're like us!"_

Ah, yes.

The whole Walking Dragons matter…

_"So, why me now?"_

_"Because you're like them!"_

_"No, no, no… you don't understand. This? It was just a spell."_

_"Spells wear off… this is you!"_

_"But, I'm not…"_

_"Patience. All in due time."_

_"Is this one of the painful changes?"_

_"Only if you decide to dwell on the pain within it and not the other side of things."_

_"The other side of it?"_

_"After the dark, the light always comes through."_

_"That was not self explanatory!"_

_"This is not the time for explanations. First we fight. Then we move forward."_

Unmovable.

Stubborn.

Like I said… it's fine! It's all very fine!

I'm tired and bored. Might as well go look for Baz and go whinge to him about my stubborn dragon friend and her ominous riddles about the future…

**Baz**

I don't think I remember seeing my father smiling so openly, so sincerely as today…

I don't think I remember ever seeing my father crying either and yet…

This has been a day of firsts for both of us, hasn't it?

This conversation was long overdue and I'm relieved we're finally on a place in our lives where we can be honest and unreserved with each other. To his credit, my father didn't went the route of trying to justify himself, trying to excuse his closed off behaviour of the past. He just spoke… said all the things that went through his mind and his heart over the years. His fears. His feelings of inadequacy amidst a family I'm painfully aware has always looked upon him with sheer condescend, with judgement. 

I cannot believe how far he allowed them to step on him (metaphorically speaking… ) all for the love of my dead mother! It was like he convinced himself that if he laid low and almost _annulled_ himself, personality wise, he'd be proving to the rest of the family that he was honouring her memory and keeping her legacy, and the Pitches legacy, alive and well!

And what's worse is that, I've been helping with that, haven't I? I've been acting all along like I don't have a drop of Grimm in me.

And yet…

Yet, being completely honest with myself, I've been more of a Grimm than a Pitch anyway.

Just this morning, Fiona and my father had a quite heated argument. I don't even know about what! I steered clear from them! But I did witness something I'd never seen before… my father stood up for himself and pretty much reduced Fiona to a stunned silence. (Fiona has her own issues. My mother's death made her way too bitter for her own good.) 

They'll come around eventually.

Fiona isn't quintessentially bad per se, she's just overprotective and carries this deep pain inside her heart. 

I can't even pinpoint the beginning of the debacle our family became to the murder of my mother. At the root of it stands my grandfather, Old Man Pitch… (Since the Pitches arrival in England, he was the only male first born to actually exclusively answer by his first name.) (We've all been Tyrannus, but he was the only one that demanded to be called that.) He was… well… I don't have fond memories of him. There's a reason why my grandmother divorced him! 

On the opposite spectrum, I've always loved my grandmother! (Feisty, small, short tempered! Born in Barcelona to a Spanish mother and an English father.) 

It's actually a bit odd that my maternal family, that has quite a rich past with most of the more interesting people in it being the women that ended up by marrying the Pitches, as become so keen in carrying forward the one part of the legacy that's made everyone else distrust us and even hate us at times!

Maybe I should stop worshiping the Pitches so much, step out of the shadows of this cursed legacy and become my own person, make my own path with _my choices_ , not the ones the family as chosen for me…

It's time to make a definite break with the past!

We're getting there, me and my father…

We're healing.

I just need to give him another push into getting away from the grasp of the rest of the family…

"Father?"

He turns to me, as we walk towards the Great Lawn. He's still smiling. His eyes are still a bit too bright from the tears, (I'm certain mine are too.) but he hasn't stopped smiling.

"Yes, Basil?"

"Have you ever considered just… leaving the Pitch Manor for good? Even if one day the magic does return there?" I ask. I've been thinking about it. That manor has way too much pain locked in those walls… some people even claim _it is_ actually cursed! 

"It was your mother's house!" He looks completely confounded.

"She's dead! I… why did we waste ourselves away there? It's a dreary place to grow up in!" It truly is. And it never really felt like home to me. Mummers House was more my home than Pitch Manor…

"I raised you there! And your siblings!" He counters. I knew he'd fight me on this.

"But you hate it there! You only moved into that cursed place because of mother! Tell me you haven't been happier on the hunting lodge in Oxford?" I reason with him. He knows this is true. Even the little ones seem to become more lively at Oxford. It was like a breath of fresh air! 

"So, we're just supposed to abandon the Pitch Manor?" He crosses his arms, coming to a full stop now. But I can see his demeanor changing. He's considered it, I'm sure, but all the misguided loyalty towards undeserving people has prevented him from leaving that place. 

"You're a Grimm!" I remind him. Focusing him on the real matter at hands. "So am I, no matter how much I was raised to ignore that part of me… you don't owe any of them any loyalties! They tried to break you and diminish you! They tried to make me ashamed of being a Grimm! No more! Hand over the manor to the National Trust! Let the age of elitist families, holding too much power and dwelling in whole palaces while the rest of people out there struggle just to pay rent, come to an end…" It's the first time I've allowed myself to have such thoughts. I've spent my whole life living a completely sheltered life. Having to make due amongst the Normals and spending all of this time with Simon and Penny has been waking me up to the realities of the other side of life that I'd been blind to.

"You sounded like the Mage just now…" He huffs and I can't help to grimace at that.

"He was a complete arse, corrupt, insane and ultimately consumed by his hunger for control and power…" I also hate the fact he thought giving a sword to a child a telling him he had to fight for us all, was acceptable. (I take offense at every adult who nodded in approval, but that's a whole lot more to unpack and I don't have the time right now!) "But it doesn't mean he wasn't right in some of his original views! Even a broken clock is right twice a day…"

My father laughs at it and his posture relaxes completely.

"I'll think about it…" He finally gives in. "It's not like we're going back there anytime sooner. Magic has just began reappearing on and off on the outskirts of the New Forest, I doubt it will be restored in Lyndhurst in the next couple of years. You realise I'll have to bring that subject up with your aunt, right?"

"No, you don't! Officially it's _my_ house! I'm mum's heir! If I say the manor goes into the care of the state to be opened to public, she won't be able to stop me from doing so!"

"You would confront Fiona over this?"

"It's about time aunt Fiona and I had a serious conversation." I mean, it's not like I'm happy I have to do it… but I'll eventually have to have a serious talk with her. About everything. If I'm to take the Pitches (finally) into the 21st century and out of their bubble of opulence and false sense of sense of superiority, I'm not leaving Fiona behind!

"Good luck with that…" He raises his eyebrow in the way I know I've inherited from him. I truly do have the posture of the Grimms!

**Fiona**

The White Chapel is right there, in front of me, and yet I can't seem to be able to take a single step in its direction.

I'm still trying to analyze every single angry word my brother-in-law shouted at me… I would very much love to say he's wrong and overreacting, but…

Crowley, what have I done? All the years I spent arguing with father, trying to get away from his shadow and his outdated views and plans for me and Natasha (Be obedient, get married, produce heirs for the family… ugh…). All the ways I helped my sister defy him when she announced the old man she was marrying the Grimm boy, just because I wanted to see our father foaming at the mouth. (Anything to piss him off, that was my motto!)

And yet, have I really managed to become more like him than I'd like? And why? Because Malcolm Grimm is here when my sister is not? Natasha would hate me for the way I've been treating Malcolm and teaching Baz to be ashamed of being a Grimm, that I'm sure!

Bloody hell! What a mess…

I can't even bring myself to go see my sister's grave. 

I know it's customary to bury the ones who die at Watford in the catacombs, but somehow knowing she's under there, hidden from everyone… I don't like it. 

There's already four Pitches buried there. My great-uncle Magnus and his daughter Johanna, both taken by the plague that afflicted Watford, his wife Arabella (My grandparents tried to care for her, but the pain consumed her to a point where she ended up taking her own life.) (She's the only person deceased out of Watford to be buried here.) and Natasha.

I'm not sure a school is the right place to have a burial site underneath it.

Maybe it's about time we separate our educational system for our ruling system.

We're all here, brought together by the same objective and, on this day, no one is worried about who's more powerful, who's richer, whose family bears more importance in our society.

Maybe we're supposed to learn something here today. We as a group allowed David Leighton to hold the positions of Mage and Headmaster of Watford, which technically makes as much sense as making the Headmaster of Cambridge or Oxford, UK's Prime Minister...

Maybe we we should be more like the Normals in that sense!

There's footsteps heading my way and I think it might be Baz, but as I turn I see Lady Ruth Salisbury. She's also gazing at the White Chapel and I instantly now what she's thinking about. 

The Salisburys have family there too. Arabella was a Salisbury. It wasn't the first time the Salisburys and the Pitches saw their destinies intertwined, but so far it's been the sole occasion where there was actually a marriage involved.

"Can't bring yourself to go there?" Lady Ruth questions me.

"No. Too much on my mind right now. Can't even face her grave…" I have no problem admitting this. I'm aware my face must show my feelings right now. I'm too tired to pretend I'm not upset. 

"I've seen the boy up close. Finally." Her demeanour changes into something weary and even somewhat hurt. 

"At first I believed it was a spell, but after the usual time frame within which most spells wear off, seeing him still with the wings and tail… well, one can not deny the evidence, can we?" I turn to Lady Ruth, waiting for her answers to the many questions involving Simon Snow.

She nods, closing her eyes for an instant, before turning her determined gaze on me.

"He's a Walking Dragon. If there was any doubt, Snowdrop's bonding with him shattered them."

"Lucy's dragon." I remind myself more than anything. We stop under a birch tree. The Great Lawn is filled with people, but like we'd summoned him, Simon stands out easily amongst everyone. I see him strut confidently, (He seems to have regained some of his old brashness.) (I know there's still a long way to go for him… and Baz.) The moss green dragon that used to be Lucy's flies well above him. She's always following the boy! "Why?" And she knows exactly what I'm asking.

"At first, when you called to inform me of what had happened, I was as puzzled as you. But now I've seen him. And there's things Snowdrop knows. And even more things that Blue knows but won't share with anyone. Even without sharing a natural connection with the dragons, like Arthur and his blood relatives share, through my soul-bond with my husband, they can communicate with me." Ruth Salisbury takes a pause, like she's measuring her words, pondering with care what she should and shouldn't share with me. "I know _who_ he is. He's Lucy's child… my grandson…"

I wish I could say that shocked me, but somehow I had suspected this much since Snowdrop bonded with Simon.

The way she's overly protective of the boy. The way you can sense some level of nostalgia on her eyes.

(Dragons can and will show a wide range of emotions, if you stand close enough and learn to actually see them as the magnificent magical creatures they are, instead of the mindless beasts the medieval Christians convinced everyone they were, back then!)

"Are you going to tell him?" Is he ready, that's my other thought.

"Not me. Snowdrop. She will show him." She says. We remain silent afterwards. There's a very interesting thing happening on the other side of the Lawn and our attention is drawn to it!

Blue and Mara have taken to the skies, following their younger daughter, followed closely by their older sons.

And they're all flying towards the place where Baz stands, like they were attracted by the boy…

And my nephew is watching them with the same adoring awe he's always had for dragons since he'd learned how to walk!

**Baz**

I can hear them approaching before I see them… way before…

Not like that's hard! Dragons flying above us are quite audible when they're not magically hiding themselves…

They fly above me and I watch as they circle around me, up in the sky. 

They're beautiful! There's something almost sacred about them. They're the most ancient of all magical creatures.

They were the first ones to feel the raw magic when the world was young. They were the first to be able to use it, make it a part of themselves, to create more magic and give it back into the world.

They hover above me for a second and then I see them land.

Suddenly there are five dragons surrounding me. A perfect circle of them, in different hues of green and blue. 

Snowdrop is taking the lead of this group, even though Blue and Mara are the actual leaders of the Clan. She rumbles, lowering her head until her snout almost touches me.

For a moment I'm left feeling torn between being mesmerised (because… _fucking dragons_!!!) and terrified (a flammable vampire amidst fire breathing creatures… not the wisest thing.), but somehow I trust Snowdrop. 

"I don't know what you want." I steady my voice. Try not to sound so utterly in awe. "I cannot understand you. I'm sorry, I…" My voice catches up in my throat as Snowdrop grabs me in one of her hands and slowly and gently raises me above her neck and sits me on her back. 

Her scales on the spot where the neck meets the shoulders, are much softer than I expected! It's actually not uncomfortable to be sitting there.

She's massive, but her neck is slender enough that I fit at the end of it easily.

"She knows…"

I turn to see Simon heading our way, looking nonplussed to find his boyfriend sitting on top of a dragon, with four other dragons surrounding him. Like this was our daily routine. Something we do each day before breakfast.

"She knows what?"

He smiles. "That you're a vampire." He says, shrugging. "You're worried about me going out there without any magic, I'm worried about you going out there surrounded by fire mages and dragons. And she knows that too! She's protecting you the way that I can't."

"You're joking?!" I gape at him. I mean, I know he was worried too, but I would have never thought that worry would carry to his newly partnered dragon. (Everyone's pretty much accepted that that's what happened. Snowdrop bonded with Simon.) (There's only one reason for that to happen. It means in a way Penny was right he was turning into a dragon!) (Sort of. Walking Dragons can summon wings at will.)

"I'm most definitely not! Snowdrop wants you to fly with her!"

"Oh!" And, ok, I'm at loss for words… She turns her head at me and I look into her amber gold eyes. Never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine this was what the future had in store for me!

Going into battle... not against Simon, but by his side, with my family at my side, _my father_ at _our_ side!

With Dragons.

With every single Mage and magical creatures on our side, all fighting together for a common goal!

"Ready?" He asks me with one of his cheeky smiles.

"For what?" 

"To practice flying with Snowdrop, of course! Unless you're planning to go into battle at sundown without even knowing how to keep your balance on top of a dragon while casting spells and paying attention to your surroundings." He shrugs.

Right. Flying. This is going to be interesting!

Snowdrop opens her wings and I brace myself. 

It's quite the rush, lifting off the ground and taking to the skies! I cast a **Any way the wind blows** to protect me against the speed and attrition of the air around us as Snowdrop flies faster and faster. The rest of the dragons are flying at a higher altitude than we are, of course. Simon catches up with us, flying at our side.

I'm curious to see if he can keep up with Snowdrop! He's always had excessive amounts of stamina, but I'm not entirely sure he can fly as fast and for as long as a dragon!

Even if he _is_ a Walking Dragon!

(I thought about talking about that with him, but it's one of those things that are better left for after the battle.)

I think about that a lot… the way his personality so closely resembles Snowdrop's ways…

He's got a very high set of morals. He's brave, relentless, stubborn, eats a lot!

But seriously, there's another part of Simon (of who he was) that should have been a clue, especially after it was obvious the wings and tail were an integral part of him. 

He could make magic instinctively by _wishing_ , by purely thinking about it! Just like dragons do!

(It's a secret Penny and I will keep for as long as it's necessary.) 

Simon's literally been acting like a dragon this whole time! 

All action, raw power and fire. (literal fire, and smoke, back then) No planning or second thoughts.

And he's having fun with it all! 

I must remember to thank the Salisburys for bringing out the dragons in the first place. It's working wonders on my once sulking and deeply depressed boyfriend.

Our eyes lock and the intensity of his gaze and smile takes my breath away. It feels akin to the aftermath of one of his breathtaking kisses and we're not even touching!

Snowdrop makes a sound that suspiciously reminds me of a purr. Like a cat but louder and deeper. Whatever it was that she's communicating with Simon, it has put a nice shade of red on his cheeks…

"Problems?" I raise my eyebrows at him, with a cocky smile on my lips.

"No." He mumbles. 

**Simon**

Honestly! The questions Snowdrop makes me!

If I'm thinking of soul-bonding with Baz???

First of all, we're still young and we're just getting back on track with our relationship…

Second, _why does she care?_

 _"The boy can't hear us, Simon…"_ She scoffs at me like that should be evident to me. Which, yes, thank you, I'm aware.

 _"So, let me get this straight. You want me to do that_ soul-bond _thing, just so you can communicate with my boyfriend?"_

_"Are you not in love?"_

_"Yes."_

_"I don't understand what's the problem then."_

_"We're only twenty years old!"_

_"My father's first bonded mage was younger than you when him and his lover soul-bonded."_

Wait.

Wait just a bloody minute! Blue is a Victorian Era born dragon! Snowdrop herself told me that!

 _Him_ and _His lover_? In the very stiff and pudic Victorian Era?

_"I feel like there's a story in there…"_

_"There is. But I'd prefer if it was my father who showed you the story of Jonathan Salisbury."_

_"Fair enough."_

"You're going to tell what's wrong, or…?" Baz chimes in.

"I told you, there's nothing wrong. Just Snowdrop being stubborn and nosy, but what else is new?"

_"Hmmm…"_

_"Stop."_

_"I didn't say a thing!"_

_"A likely story."_

Soul-bonding is...well… it's absolutely definitive, ain't it? It binds you for all eternity. Even after death one's soul is bound to the other one…

I love Baz! I do. More than anything and anyone. But I'm not in the right headspace to take such a giant step!

One day, when we finally reach a point where we can see each other being together in a more permanent fashion, I wouldn't oppose to that, if Baz wished for that also. But not right now. We've been through hell, through serious communication issues… we can't rush things if we want to make our love last. 

We have time. Snowdrop will just have to be patient.

Besides, she can communicate with Baz as long as we're both physically touching her at the same time, through my bond with her. So, that's something...

I fly closer to Baz and I reach my hand towards him. He stretches his arm and our fingers touch. I catch his hand in mine and for a while we're both soaring through the blue skies like this, hand in hand with the Clan of dragons surrounding us. 

It's perfect!

**Lucy**

There's so much magic filling Watford…

It's sings through me. It rolls like tidal waves.

There are dragons in the skies.

There are dryads, nymphs and all sorts of magical creatures.

I've been so empty for years…

I still can't push through. I'm not strong enough. Not yet.

My son…

My Simon…

How I wish I could come back to you…

I'll stay here, watching. But you can't see me.

Your father and I, we played with forces we couldn't control and you paid the price, didn't you, my rosebud boy?

You're going into battle and I can't be there to help you.

But Snowdrop can.

And Natasha's son.

I have to believe you'll be alright.

Wait for me, my son!

One day I might hope to redeem myself...

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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